Vote Totals Under Inquiry in 12 Iraqi Provinces, Panel Says

[spanone]

Looks like the Iraqis HAVE learned something about American Democracy
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

~snip~ BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 17 - Iraqi election officials said today that they were investigating what they described as "unusually high" vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where as many 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution, raising the possibility that the results of Saturday's referendum could be called into question.
~snip~

[cynatnite]

1. Voting irregularities galore...

A prominent Sunni Arab politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, claimed Diyala in particular had seen vote rigging. He said he was told by the manager of a polling station in a Kurdish district of Diyala that 39,000 votes were cast although only 36,000 voters were registered there.

Al-Mutlaq said soldiers broke into a polling station in a Sunni district of the Diyala city of Baqouba and took ballot boxes heavy with "no" votes and that later results showed a "yes" majority. His claims could not be independently verified.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[leftofthedial]

2. what could have gone wrong?

We sent those teams of voting experts from Ohio and Florida to help them.

[Inland]

3. But it can't affect the referendum. Here's my theory.

It's the vote in the three or five Sunni provinces that can reject the constitution, since a rejection by three provinces is what kills the constitution.

I think they are doing what any good precinct captain in Old Chicago would do...proving that they can do it and therefore they are valuable allies in any electoral system. The ability to roll out ninety, ninetyfive percent with a high turnout shows you have clout with your neighbors, even if it doesn't make any difference in this referendum.